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Spider Mites on Vegetable and Landscape Plants

This article was published originally on 7/25/1997

Byline:

by Donald Lewis, Department of Entomology

A hot, dry summer like has been occurring in many parts of Iowa could mean spider mite problems for many of our landscape and garden plants. Spider mites feed externally on the foliage of nearly all vegetables, flowers, trees and shrubs. They use piercing-sucking mouthparts to puncture the plant tissue and feed on the liquid within the cells. In light infestations the foliage will appear to be speckled with very tiny yellowish-green spots. If the population of mites increases the damage can become severe enough to turn the foliage entirely greenish-yellow and eventually tan or brown. Heavily infested plants often drop their leaves. Close examination of infested foliage may reveal very fine webbing produced by the mites.

Spider mites are tiny and difficult to see with the naked eye on the plant. A convenient detection technique is to hold a sheet of white paper under a branch and then shake or tap the branch against the paper. The mites, if present, will show up as tiny, slow- moving specks on the paper.

Several miticides (pesticides that control mites) are available for mite control. Spraying to reduce mite numbers is advised when plants show the characteristic damage described above, and the white-sheet-of-paper technique turns up a large number of mites (a dozen or more on each sheet). Sprays available to homeowners include insecticidal soap, horticulture oil (summer rate), malathion, diazinon, Isotox and Orthene.

Insecticidal soap is available from retail stores under various trade names. The active ingredient is "potassium or sodium salts of fatty acids." Mix and apply commercial products according to label directions. You may substitute ordinary dishwashing detergent for the commercial products with little risk of injury to plants. To make your own insecticidal soap spray solution, mix 5 tablespoons of liquid dishwashing detergent in 1 gallon of water. Soap sprays have no residual activity and only control mites and insects that are contacted directly. Thorough spraying, especially to the undersides of leaves is important for control.

On smaller trees, shrubs and plants it may be possible to reduce light mite populations with periodic "hosings." Use the garden hose to apply a forceful stream of water to dislodge mites from an infested plant. Repeat 3 or 4 times on consecutive days. Hot dry weather and drought conditions favor mite populations. Keep plants watered and mulched to promote health and vigor and to reduce the impact of mite feeding.